Notes on Slavery and Race

Dr. Alveda King

5/10/2012

Jubilee

American slave traders and slave masters often misquoted the Bible as justification for slavery. I often ask those who point to the Bible as justification for slavery why then, if the Bible is to held up as a standard for slavery, why the slave masters didn’t honor the command the set the slaves free and give them wealth and property after seven years of service? The Bible describes this process as Jubilee.

Obviously the ancient bondages of slavery and racism still exist in the 21st Century. Now, along with oppression due to skin color, babies in the womb are counted in the masses of the oppressed. The sick, infirm and elderly are not far behind in the onslaught.

It will take yet another brief history excursion to discover why the African American or Black communities of America are being targeted by racism, segregation, genocide and the onslaught of social ills. Please take a deep breath and hold on to your hat. What you are about to read may shock you.

Possibly, many African Americans are the biological and spiritual seed of Abraham. This is what makes the mandate of Jubilee as cited in Leviticus 25 relevant to Black people in America. Consider this excerpt from the book, Who We Are in Christ Jesus:

God wants us to have a greater knowledge of who we are, and how we fit into His eternal arrangement. By coming to understand God’s heavenly plan, we will be able to conceptualize how we as a nation of people came to be known as “The Black Man,” also known as “The Slave,” “Nigger,” “Colored,” “Negro,” “Black,” “Afro-American,” and “African American.”

Here in America for over 400 years, we Black Americans have longed for a name and home, and yet our destiny lies in two covenants. The term remnant in the Old and New Testaments, reveals that we, like our oppressed Hebrew brothers of old, have been living in bondage, but have been a major source of energy in the building of our country (like Joseph in Egypt.). Also like Joseph in Egypt, we came in as slaves, but have risen to the top of the political and social platforms of our great nation, as we ourselves are critically entrenched in the mechanisms of its influences.

If we consider how the Hebrews ran into all parts of Africa just after the massive slaying by the Roman Empire, we can also discover how the Hebrew nation came into captivity at the hands of African nations (Deut. 26:5-8; Ps. 105:32-27; 106: 19-22; Isaiah 11:11; Amos 9:7; Zeph. 3:10Mi. 5:7-8; Acts 2:5). The Hebrew nation was no stranger to bondage on the continent of Africa. Moses, in the dramatic Exodus of the Bible, answered God and led the people out of Egypt. But once again, in the first century A.D., Israel returned to Africa seeking refuge, only to find themselves in certain situations causing them to be re-enslaved!

The children of Ham largely accepted the children of Shem, as they intermingled into one people (Judges. 3:5-6; Ezra 2:1-2; Ezek. 16:1-3). Remember, the God of Israel also embraced the children of Ham. At that time in history, the Afro-eastern religions had a toehold in every aspect of the African society. For fourteen centuries, the blood of Abraham mingled with the blood of Ham. Now if we could keep in mind that God knew before day one, just what would occur, would definitely help us to understand that He knew that Abraham’s seed would mingle with the African people of Ham.

Religious differences made the now Black skinned, broad nosed Israelites easy prey for their Hamitic relatives, who sold them into the profitable slave trade of the 16th century. It would be some time before people of conscience such as Wilberforce and the abolitionists leaders in America would rise up against the forces of darkness, and once again echo the cry of Moses: "Let my people go!" The wheel was set in motion, and slavery had a course to run.

At the height of the more recent oppression, when the slave traders reached the “dark continent,” they attained help from the native Black people in order to “capture” the Black Jews, then placed them on the treacherous slave ships to a “new land.”

Here, we can observe how the “Black Jews” went into bondage for another 400 years, which lasted from the 1500’s to the 1900’s. These Black Jews carried with them their heritage in their music. The old “Negro Spirituals,” “Go Down Moses,” “Joshua Fit De Battle of Jericho,” “Jordan River Crossing,” and many others give credence to a history that the Black Israelite slaves in America did not learn such rituals in Africa, nor from their slave masters in America. These children in a strange land had carried those songs from their Mother Land Israel, to their Mother Land Africa, then to the remote regions of the earth.

Later, during this same period, the blood of Abraham crossed with the blood of Japheth, when the “White” slave masters, took the Black slave girls into their beds. These acts irrefutably initiated a breeding system that would alienate the slaves from each other by forming a system of color differentiations; a system that taught the darker skinned slaves to resent the lighter complexions; a practice that did not avoid consequential preferences.

Then, another spiritual Exodus, similar to the times and experiences of Moses, which occurred hundreds of years before Martin Luther King, Jr., certainly brought Blacks up from the dregs of oppression. Like Moses, Dr. King did not “reach the promised land.” God has raised up another “Joshua generation” to lead the people into another spiritual warfare, toward possessing a promise land.

Unlike our Hebrew brothers of old, we are not seeking milk and honey, even though the stakes are the same, since we want the richest of God’s promises. We, as Blacks who have accepted the heritage offered by the Salvation of the Messiah, are heirs to an unlimited source of power and wealth. Naturally, God’s promise is for everyone, regardless of color or gender. Yet, while God’s promise is not limited, it is certainly for us as well as others, since we are a special people. It is plainly understood that the Word acknowledges that God has vested interest in us, and that all people, including African-Americans are definitely members of the family tree of Adam (Acts 17). People around the globe acknowledge this truth. Yet, it appears that the American Blacks still stumble in unenlightened confusion, leading many to cry out that we must discover who we are in Christ Jesus!

In light of the context of the ancestry of the African American “nation” or “village” living in America in the 21st century, many are connected to ancestors of the ancient Hebrew bloodline. Following this trail of evidence, we can conclude that descendants of slaves in America are entitled to the Jubilee Mandate of Leviticus 25:39-55:

If any of your Israelite relatives go bankrupt and sell themselves to you, do not treat them as slaves. Treat them instead as hired servants or as resident foreigners who live with you, and they will serve you only until the Year of Jubilee. At that time they and their children will no longer be obligated to you, and they will return to their clan and ancestral property. The people of Israel are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt, so they must never be sold as slaves. Show your fear of God by treating them well; never exercise your power over them in a ruthless way…

So, according to the Bible, our “foreign” slave masters were required to release us after seven years, and give us land and gifts as we departed from the years of slavery. They were not supposed to hang us, lynch us, bomb us and otherwise abuse us. They were not supposed to enslave us for generations, even into the 21st century, and keep us on “the plantation.”So, can we then conclude that greed and manipulation caused American slave masters to disregard the Bible mandate of Jubilee? Is this same spirit of greed and rebellion at the basis of racism, genocide and other atrocities of man’s inhumanity to man at the root of America’s social ills today?

This is a question that must surely be considered in the next edition of our Anthology. We want to hear from you as we prepare to launch our next volume. Please send your questions and feedback to Blackprolifeanthology@gmail.com.

Friends, there is a cry for revival in the land. There is a longing for a Jubilee. Set the captives free we cry. At the time of this publication, we are months away from the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 1963, “I Have a Dream” speech. The number 50 marks the time of Jubilee. As we approach or, as some say, as we are in the era of the end of a dispensation, we look towards the new where liberty and freedom will take on heaven’s appearance.

We long for liberty and redemption, not just for some, but for all, regardless of skin color, gestational condition, age or physical restraints. Yet, there can be no revival without repentance. This is a season to cry out for repentance and revival. Oh Lord, send revival. LET FREEDOM RING! Amen.

Of One Blood – One Race: Human

Galatians 4:16: Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?John 8:32: Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Only God knows everything. My lack of knowledge has led me to write this book. Several themes are approached several times in various ways, thus seeming to be redundant. Restatement is an excellent tool for learning. Alveda is the foremost student in this project, with The Holy Spirit being the expert teacher. The Bible says that if we lack wisdom, we must ask God for instruction, and receive His insight in faith. In my seeking truth, the information, passages and messages in this book have come before me. In the sharing of these words, it is my sincere desire that you may also find reason to continue on in your quest for truth.

For many years, I looked upon the Euro-icon-portraits and faces of “Jesus” Christ, wondering if He remotely favored the modern portrayals. When I was a young girl watching the movie “Cleopatra,” I often wondered how could the ancient Egyptians, who lived in a remote blazing hot region in Africa, look like the Euro- actresses or actors cast in Hollywood movies. Of course, in recent years, casting directors have begun to cast actors who are more ethnically aligned to their roles.

In the historical chapel of our family church, there is a stained glass rendering of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the portrait, He is viewed as the traditional westernized image, with fair skin, fine hair, and slender body. I remember wondering as a little girl why a carpenter didn’t have more muscles. I also wondered how He and His parents were able to hide in Egypt, which is in Africa, and not be the center of attention as a white family in a predominantly brown culture. When I would address these questions to the Christian community, I was quickly “shushed” for fear of “blasphemy.”

I accepted the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, and was water baptized when I was five years old. I believed even then, in spite of my questions about His ethnicity, that He was born of His virgin mother, Mary. I fully accepted that He ministered here in the earth, died on Calvary and rose again.

Many years later, I accepted Him as my personal Savior. I understood then, that not only had He been born of the Virgin Mary, crucified and raised from the dead, but that between death and resurrection, He went into hell and defeated the devil. Thus, as He told Peter, “the gates of hell will not prevail!” And He died for my sins. His blood redeemed me. And right now, He is in Heaven, as my High Priest, praying for me and for all who receive Him! He sent God’s Holy Spirit to comfort us and teach us! What good news, the Gospel truth!

In the dawn of this reality, race and color seem to have ceased to be an issue for me. Due to my understanding of Acts 17, there is only one race, human, created of one blood. We must look to “Star Trek” for other races and species. We are born into ethnic groups, but the demonic deception of race and racism are lies and trickery from hell!

While the years rolled on, I began to realize that many of my Black brothers and sisters remain in bondage, due to myths and evil influences, which prevent us from discerning and accepting the true word of God.

As the decades continued to pass, I saw the race battles engaged among not only whites against blacks and Native Americans, but blacks and whites against Asians and Hispanics. Added to all of this, the class and caste battles of Blacks against Blacks in the Motherland, whites against whites in Europe, Asians and Indians against their own kind, all boiled down to people against people due to the deceptions of a common unseen enemy.

Such realizations made me even more aware that many of our White brothers and sisters are also victims of their own misconceptions, thus bringing me to question my own heart concerning; what is a man, who is the Black man, and why were we born?

For thousands of years, since the distinguishing of the nations, with the beginnings of the family of Noah, and subsequently the nations of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, race has been an issue. Remember, God did not create "races" of humans. Although at the dawn of history there appear to have been various species and races of "man," God created only one "human race," a race of people of variously colored ethnic groups. "Of one blood and one man has God made all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the earth; determining the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if by chance they might search after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from being found: For in Him we live, and move, and have our being, For we are also His offspring. (Acts 17:25-26).

In his book ONE BLOOD, Ken Ham discusses racism.

“One of the biggest justifications for racial discrimination in modern times is the belief that people groups have evolved separately. Thus, different groups are at allegedly different stages of evolution, and so some people groups are more backward than others. Therefore, the other person may not be as fully human as you. This sort of thinking inspired Hitler in his quest to eliminate Jews and Gypsies and to establish the "master race."

Sadly, some Christians have been infected with racist thinking through evolutionary indoctrination that people of a different "color" are inferior because they are supposedly closer to the animals. Such attitudes are completely unbiblical (e.g., Acts 17:26, Colossians 3:11), although out-of-context Bible verses are often conscripted in attempts to justify racist views.”

Since, as was stressed earlier, all other races or species of man have either disappeared off the planet, or are in a serious minority, it is evident that the human race is intended to be a family. Because this is a fact that has been established and ordained by God, and since Satan has done everything that he could do to eradicate the family of man, it is no surprise that the wicked old Devil came up with the plan of racism to divide and alienate the populations housed on Planet Earth.

Satan remains crafty enough to know that as long as he can keep man looking at issues of skin color and "race," his nefarious tactics of hate and division can work. Tragically, throughout the generations, people have continued to be used as tools to propagate racism. Primarily, this weakness has sprung from insecurities rooted in a fear of admitting that one’s roots are in an ethnic group that has fought to dominate other ethnic groups for thousands of years.

The concept of “race” is a tool of the Devil designed to separate and uproot God's family tree. Neither the White man nor the Black man is the Devil, but Satan seeks to spread the lie of racism to divide the world; a wicked method used to inspire extreme emotional responses and racial conflicts, in the social and intellectual realms of man's reality. Violence, hatred, fear, confusion, deceit, distortion and ignorance are all part of this diabolical plan of Satan to divide God's family.

Fear and denial have sometimes driven people to oppress all who are not like them; under what could be called a “superiority complex”. In America, The African-American tribe has been Satan’s most recent target, but is not by any means the world’s only victim of racism. Even people of the same color and ethnic origins oppress their own kind!

White supremacy or supremacy of any kind is a product of fear! The “White” ethnic family became the last human tribe to emerge on earth, and some have desperately tried to make up for this position by oppressing everyone in their path. This insecurity has made the Caucasian family a very vulnerable entity in the human family structure.

An example of this insecurity is noted in the work of the Afrikaner writer Andre' Brink, who writes of his people, "the White tribe of Africa."This group is symbolic of the massive European colonization of the 16th century colonization of Africa by Whites. This radical Afrikaner people have refused to leave the area, or blend with the indigenous cultures, as other Europeans sometimes have. Such classic example of denial, insecurity, and supremacy is just one of the many examples of a racial process that has plagued nations for centuries.”

The aim of racism is to conduct self-destruction; a process of killing an individual’s roots without killing the person. The Devil must continue to deceive the White man into thinking that the people of color are the enemy. On the contrary, people of color are deceived into thinking that the White man is the enemy, lacking the understanding that “racist people” are controlled by Lucifer. Other tools of Satan’s diabolical trade are white privilege, race baiting, and even using Blacks to play the “race card” against White people of good intent.

This is Satan’s plot, playing one camp against the other; and has been used by Satan as an instrument to instigate confusion, whereas God is not the author of confusion (I Corinthians. 14:33)! There are millions of White people who serve God, who are redeemed, and blessed to be members of God’s family. Remember, racism is just one of Satan’s tools used to destroy God's family. We must not over look that often communities of people of the same ethnicity are used by Satan to destroy themselves. Some harmful factors are Drugs, crime, sickness, venereal disease, homosexuality, and abortion: All of these factors have a destructive impact on the reproduction of all nations. No single people group can be blamed for these weapons of mass destruction.

White people, Black people, Brown people, Red people, Yellow people.... All human people spring from one human race (Acts 17). The White people are not the enemy. The Devil is the enemy. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X both reached this revelation before they were assassinated. Both men preached that the people of color should never despise or hate our White “brothers.” Both men preached the message of love that is advocated or heavily stressed in the Bible.

Interestingly enough, just as both men were reaching a point of influencing thousands of “Black” Americans to turn their hearts to love, rather than hate; or to stress the unity of the nations, rather than the division of God’s children, both men were unfortunately slain. Satan could not afford to have man to understand the power of unity and love among the “nations” or “families” of man. *Matt. 5:43-44; Mark 12:33; I John 2:9; 4:20-21.

We cannot love God and hate our brother, no matter what color he or she is. God ordained the various complexions. God did not ordain racism. God is not the author of racism (I Corinthians. 14:33). Again: Neither the Caucasian man nor the Black man is the author of racism. The Devil is the author of racism.

As humans of every color, nations and tribes continue to discover that all people are part of the same family; racism can be confronted and finally eradicated, with the forces of love and wisdom. Wisdom, knowledge and understanding go hand in hand. It is wise to consider the teachings of the Bible, which show that God desires a family, which includes people of all colors.